Amid the joy, the tears and the sheer incredulity of yet another of those European nights touched by fantasy, a moment for Mauricio Pochettino .
A moment too for his campaign to crowbar more transfer market money out of the Spurs board ahead of next season.
“I can’t keep performing miracles” Pochettino has made clear very publicly to chairman Daniel Levy over the past twelve months.
Then he goes and pulls off a night like this.
A night to undermine his own bid to get Spurs to give him the cash compete with Manchester City and Liverpool in the transfer market. A night to underline his status as a footballing alchemist.
Mauricio Pochettino's response when asked if he will quit if Tottenham beat Liverpool
A night to suggest to the men upstairs and the wider public that maybe he can keep pulling rabbits out of the hat.
Especially with Lucas Moura - signed for a comparatively cheap £23million from PSG eighteen months ago, completing what looked for all the world to be mission impossible.
Let no-one tell you that Pochettino needs to win a trophy before he can be considered the real deal.
Whether he now wins this competition or not he has already earned his stripes as one of European football’s elite coaches.
Forget too this ludicrous ‘Spursy’ term used as a means of insulting the north Londoners’ fortitude.
Especially when they have a coach able to conjure up the kind of character they produced during those phenomenal, second 45 minutes.
At 3-0 down and with a comeback like Liverpool’s a notion too ridiculous to even contemplate, Pochettino somehow inspired an incredible revival from his soldiers.
A revival that had been dismissed here in Amsterdam pre-match with one publication branding Spurs masters in failure.
Gary Lineker's three word reaction to Tottenham reaching Champions League final
Enter Lucas Moura with a quite incredible hat-trick to silence the Amsterdam Arena.
By the final whistle there were bodies strewn all over the pitch. Some were Ajax players, barely able to believe that their place in Madrid had been snatched away from them.
The rest were Spurs players and staff. Spent, delirious and still dreaming of a quite incredible climax to a sensational season.
Fully 40 minutes later, with us in the media waiting for him in the press room, an emotional Pochettino was still out on the pitch.
Remember, it is five years since he arrived in north London.
In that time Tottenham have gone from two decades below bitter rivals Arsenal to three seasons above them.
Even more importantly, they’ve enjoyed three successive Champions League campaigns.
Now, the ugly ducklings of north London have become potential champions of Europe.
To have done it after nine months of stadium confusion, two windows of transfer disillusion, ten of his top stars injured in the wake of the World Cup, two spells without Harry Kane and suspension to Son Heung Min is simply stunning.
Regardless of what happens in Madrid, Pochettino still urgently needs more transfer cash.
If he has been able to achieve all that under the transfer constraints within which he has had to operate, just imagine what he could do with some serious money.
Levy must surely now look at the decisiveness with which Liverpool reacted to coming so close in this competition twelve months ago
No messing about, the Reds went for broke.
Brazilian Alisson, in for £70million. His arrival followed that of £75million defender Virgil van Dijk six months earlier.
Tottenham's Harry Kane reveals if he will be fit for Champions League final
Jurgen Klopp’s restructured side have since gone on to play their part in the most compelling, consistent title race for years.
Yes, they will go head to head in Madrid next month but for Liverpool it will be the second time in as many seasons.
Spurs can’t take their place at the business end of this competition for granted unless they follow the Liverpool blueprint.
They deserve their place in this year’s final, though. Forget Ajax, this is the fairytale this competition deserves.
